<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.0 Transitional//EN"> <HTML><HEAD> <META http-equiv=Content-Type content="text/html; charset=iso-8859-1"> <META content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1106" name=GENERATOR> <STYLE></STYLE> </HEAD> <BODY bgColor=#ffffff> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Justin wrote:</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>> </FONT>She was contemplating why the media were so craven and manipulable (over Iraq and the </DIV> <DIV>> Bushies generally), so I mentioned Chomsky and Herman's Manufacturing Consent. </DIV> <DIV>> Chomsky? she said. Doesn't he do semiotics or something like that? Well, something like, I </DIV> <DIV>> said, generative grammar, but he also does political criticism and commentary. Oh, she said. > She had never heard of that body of work. We live in a small world. Most politically aware </DIV> <DIV>> and intelligent people in this country have no idea that Chomsky is even a political analyst.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Depends on your definition of politically aware.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>> </FONT>From a marketing standpoint, she says, btw, that its absolutely insane for the Dems to dilute </DIV> <DIV>> their core message and alienate their base by trying to be GOP Lite; successful marketing </DIV> <DIV>> calls for building a smaller but very loyal base.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>A winner take all electoral system doesn't resemble a market.  If the Dems had a loyal voting base of 30% but were unable to attract any more than 10% of the rest of the voting population, they would be perpetually screwed (unless they were consistently able to add voters to their loyal base).</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>-- Luke</FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>